Postwar Unrest

The transition from war to peace was, for many, tumultuous. A
massive influenza epidemic, which had spread rapidly throughout
Europe in 1917, broke out in the United States in the spring of
1918. Before it vanished a year later, as mysteriously as it had
begun, it claimed the lives of more than half-a-million
Americans.

The immediate economic boom right after the war led to high
expectations that were quickly sunk once the postwar economy
returned to normal. In turn, labor became dissatisfied with the
rising costs of living, long hours and unsympathetic management.
In 1919 alone, over 4 million workers went on strike. During
that summer, moreover, race riots broke out in both the North and
South.

Yet the event that triggered the greatest national outcry and
concern had occurred two years earlier outside the United States:
the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia. With morale low,
Americans became fearful that, just as a small faction had seized
power in Russia, so could a similar group take over the United
States. This fear crystallized when, in April 1919, the postal
service intercepted nearly 40 bombs addressed to prominent
citizens.

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer set up a new office of
general intelligence within the Justice Department, and appointed
J. Edgar Hoover as its head. Hoover began collecting files on
known radicals, and raids on various organizations led to
deportations of scores of people. Although Palmer's dire
warnings continued to fuel what became known as the "Red Scare,"
the threats never materialized; and by the summer of 1920, the
American people realized that the United States was safe from
anarchy.